Beads, Beads, and More Beads

Thursday I went on an outing with Liz (from the flight to Accra) and her friend, Ana, who has lived in Accra for 3 years. They invited me to drive with them to a bead market in Koforidua about 1 ½ hours north of Accra. Even though I don’t normally get excited about beads, it sounded very interesting for a few reasons: 1) Ghana is known for their spectacular beads, 2) it’d be a chance for me to see an area outside of Accra, 3) I could use the company, and 4) I would be able to drill Ana with all my questions about what it is like to live in Ghana as an American expat. They picked me up at around 8:30am and we proceeded to battle traffic to get out of Accra for the next hour or so. We went through small villages, almost like shantytowns, that were fascinating. There was a hustle and bustle to each one…people selling their wares on the street, going about their business, school children making their way to school and socializing, etc. One thing about Ghana is that you can buy absolutely anything and everything on the street from world maps, belts, shoes, bags of water, food, games, etc. As I tried to soak the scenery all in on the drive, I was able to learn an incredible amount from Ana about living in Ghana as an expat. I took notes furiously so I could try to remember all that she was telling me. We eventually made it into the beautiful countryside that was green and lush and very hilly. The road was in surprisingly good condition making it easy for their driver, Samuel, to cruise around tight turns and pass slower moving vehicles on the wrong side of the road. When we arrived at the market, there were stands after stands with beautiful colorful beads laid out on the tables. It was extremely hot this day so we were all dripping in sweat but were really fascinated by the variety of glass and metal beads. As I walked around, many of the vendors would try to entice you over to their selection but honestly, after a few strolls down the lanes of vendors, they all started to look the same. We picked a particular vendor that Ana seemed to know about and admired the collection. There were other “obruni’s” (or white people) also looking and buying and clearly this bead market was well known but enough off the beaten track that the obruni’s were sparse. Later, I read that there is a bead factory nearby that supplies many of the beads that make it to the U.S. and Europe and that it is a destination to tour. They recycle glass and bake it into beautifully shaped, colored, and painted beads. I bought some strands even though I have no idea yet what I’ll do with them. I practiced my bargaining skills and crashed and burned at one stand but did fairly well at the next. I’m slowly getting the hang of it.

Afterwards we “lunched” at a little hotel/conference center not too far away that had a beautiful setting. We were surrounded by lush hillside and had a slight breeze that relieved us from the stifling heat. It was a really great day for a lot of reasons one of which was that I learned that Ana has many contacts that she has made in her time living in Ghana that she is willing to share with me. I told her that I was hoping to do some volunteer work with NGO’s in Accra and where my interests were and she immediately was able to rattle off names of people that do work right up my alley. I hope to stay in contact with her throughout my stay here. Who knew that that the cancelled Delta flight at JFK would have resulted in making new friends and contacts in Ghana! It is funny how things work out.